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Sunday, January 20, 2013

Thinking About the Brutes

Medieval War Elephant

The Brutes are the barbarian faction on Mars. The theme for Brutes are Massive and Tough creatures, weak shooting and strong melee.

We will designate any humanoids as Brutes. Players can represent them with any kind of alien, barbarian or monstrous model -- Orks, Kroot, Ogres, Ancient Celts, whatever. Brutes come in many sizes (and species): small Brutes, Brutes, Large Brutes, Huge Brutes and Enormous Brutes.

Approximate Size

Toughness

Small Brute

Human

0

Brute

Orc

1

Large Brute

big Orc

2

Huge Brute

Ogre

3

Enormous Brute

Giant

4+

We'll call any non-humanoids Beasts. These aren't intelligent species, but the Brutes may use them as mounts or helpers. We will likewise categorize them as Small Beasts, Beasts, Large Beasts, Huge Beasts and Enormous Beasts.

Approximate Size

Toughness

Small Beast

Dog

0

Beast

Horse

1

Large Beast

Rhino

2

Huge Beast

Elephant

3

Enormous Beast

Dinosaur

4+

A typical squad will consist of about twenty Brutes. (By default these will all be regular Brutes, but other sizes may be substituted or intermixed.) Each Brute will be armed with an RoF 1 gun and RoA 2. Their weapons will have a Massive rating to match their Toughness.

Mathematically, then, a Brute squad will have firepower roughly equivalent to a squad of Free Humans or Colonists, but will be a bit more than twice as hard to suppress and aborb twice as many casualties. It will be much more effective in melee than in firefight.